Week 10: Isekai

Besides shoujo, I am pretty familiar with Isekai's but never actually knew the name of them. Of course it started with my obsession of Sword Art Online in high school which besides its controversial seasons, I think had a very good first season and solidified Isekai as a popular genre and story telling medium.



I decided to read Konosuba because I had seen a few seasons of the anime and enjoyed it so I wanted to get to know the source. The manga followed pretty closely to the show in terms of humor and style. But, it follows mostly Megumin which makes me understand now her popularity within the fandom. I think modern Isekai's can easily be viewed as problematic because of their fanservice and unnecessary sexual moments/characters but I don't always think its a bad thing. Konosuba doesn't take itself seriously. It's almost self aware in its absurdity of boob shots and perversion which adds a lot of humor to the story that itself isn't taken seriously. I also think the female characters, although sexualized, are very strong and passionate which I enjoy. I think all of this is a unique charm of Konosuba but I can understand why others might not feel the same about it.



I also read a bit of I Got Reincarnated as a Slime which actually reminded me a lot of Konosuba and made me realize the similarities of all the Isekai's I've read/seen. They love to have a large cast of girls surrounded by a not-so-capable man.  I don't think this is necessarily a bad trope, because it can lead to a lot of good female character development but mostly the female characters are a lot more interesting than the main male protagonist. I would love to see an all female or even all male Isekai.